dana_naylor's reviews
472 reviews

Ohhhh….fun!
I haven’t watched the tv series and didn’t know anything about plot when I picked this up.
I just couldn’t put it down and had a great time reading it!

Told in alternating viewpoint between two main characters, I didn’t get a good feel for the grand picture of the story until over halfway through, but that was fine as the characters were also figuring things out. Some pretty descriptive gore and body horror in a few parts.

I’ve got book 2 on hold at library and am looking forward to starting it soon!

I liked the part of the dedication:

I think I would have enjoyed the book more if the afterword had been a preface.
I read in some reviews people saying they had a tough time placing the locations in the fantasy into corresponding locations in reality. I think the afterword goes a long way to explaining where the comparisons are (and I wouldn't have found it as a spoiler at all, but just in case...)

Persia (Iran) is the empire that is then conquered. How do you reconcile your country's imperialism when it is later conquered?

I think the questions raised are interesting. I think the magic in the world and the fear of blood magic has great potential. I think the worldbuilding is interesting. I think this book tries to do too much in too short a length and isn't terribly effective. I was more frustrated with unanswered questions or confused with place names while reading. 

I am interested in seeing where Jamnia goes with future writing and will be looking for more of their work.

I have not watched any of the tv series but have read bits about it. The book is a series of interconnected stories with different main characters. I preferred the stories with supernatural horror to the real-world horrors and wish things had changed more in the 70 years since the setting of the book. 

It took me a couple of tries to finally progress in the book, but I'm glad I did. I likely will read Destroyer of Worlds relatively soon as well.

Told in a 5 Act structure, this is a love letter to Shakespeare and the theater.
Each act begins with a prologue which takes place 10 years after the events of the book.
I had fun with it and want to reread and watch some Shakespeare :)

An earlier book by Hibbert, this is more erotica than romance. Characters are especially light, but you can see the spark that she'll develop as she writes more. Made me laugh out loud a couple of times. Enjoyable.

I laughed at a number of points while reading this.
The memoir is told based on topics Graham loves. 

In the booze chapter, I'd argue it's pretty clear that he's a functioning alcoholic, but the important part is functioning. He mentions going to an AA meeting with Carrie Fisher.

Also fascinating to see just how important representation is. 

It’s time for Faction Wars!
Floor 9.
Absolutely will not make sense if you haven’t read prior books.
No top 10 crawler list during this phase….this is war.

Book could use some editing, but I still enjoyed it.
Sad that I’m going to have to wait for the next one to be written, at which point I will likely have forgotten a lot of how we got here.

I love the world and find it fascinating. I want to spend more time in it.

I think the writing doesn't live up to my expectations of the writing. I think the story is trying to do too much at once - too many topics in one story and the focus is lost. 

We have the sentinel of the city thread, the school graduation/family thread, the sword and Adam thread - and it's just too much and not blended well enough.

I like some of the food descriptions, but I felt there was too much of it.
I hope Vee and Bebelle keep writing. I want their voice. I don't know if I'll read book 3 or not though.

I wanted to read the first part that takes place as a pandemic destroys society. I put it down once I got through that part. I think I'm just not interested in the mystic good vs evil battles that will take place in the rest of the book. I read it in the 80s and think I got all I needed from this reread.

Entertaining. Good sense of dread building to horror.